The Lioness's Coup
The throne room of the Bismarck Empire, which only moments earlier had echoed with the clash of swords, screams of the wounded, and the wet spray of blood, fell into an eerie silence. The princess who had led the Northern Alliance war to victory as a soldier—Charlotte von Bismarck—now stood with her own father sprawled at her feet.
Claude had dropped the imperial crown. It lay on the floor as blood trickled down his forehead. In a broken voice he muttered, “How… how could you do this to me? I… I gave you everything you ever wanted…”
He had not been a bad father. Under imperial law, daughters stood far behind sons in the line of succession, so Claude, pitying her, had defied his ministers and supported Charlotte when she declared her desire to serve in the military. And she had performed brilliantly. After honing her skills on the battlefield, she had led the Empire to victory after victory against the Northern Alliance. The joy Claude felt then had been beyond words—ecstatic, even. He had never been more proud of his daughter.
“Why me…!”
Yet this was the result of that support. Betrayal. A regret that carved itself into his very bones. At this moment, Claude resented his daughter more than anything else in the world.
“Don’t tell me… you killed your brother as well!?”
“No. There is no need to harm Leo. This matter is one that only Father must bear.”
Charlotte leveled her sword at him.
“Leo will become Emperor.”
“……You.”
Claude was no fool. He could see exactly what Charlotte intended once she placed her brother on the throne.
“You plan to turn Leo into a puppet.”
She would manipulate the puppet emperor to her liking, and the moment he made even a single mistake, she would use it as a pretext to seize the throne herself. The reason she spared her brother was to lend legitimacy to her coup. By deposing an excommunicated emperor and installing a rightful successor, she could claim both justification and righteousness. For that purpose, Charlotte was willing to leave alive a sibling she had always considered a thorn in her side. Thanks to this, many factions within the imperial court could follow her without reservation. After all, this was not a rebellion so that she—a woman who violated imperial law—could claim the throne, but one to elevate the legitimate heir, Leo.
Of course, real power would rest with Charlotte and her fellow conspirators, but from the perspective of those joining the coup, there was nothing to lose.
“As expected of Father. The reason this Empress is so intelligent must be because I take after you. Though it seems that intelligence has lost its luster now.”
“You… you filthy traitorous wench! You are no daughter of mine! How could your mother smile peacefully in heaven after seeing this!?”
“…Haha. Father, I never thought you would speak of Mother.”
Charlotte laughed as though she had heard something absurd. Then she leaned down and whispered in a voice so soft that no one else could hear.
“Did you truly believe I would not know who murdered Mother?”
“…!!!”
“If only you had loved and cherished Mother the way you loved and cherished Leo and me.”
Charlotte raised her sword.
“I will grant you a painless end, Father.”
Everything was over. The imperial palace had fallen into Charlotte’s hands, and every major ministry had knelt before her might.
The Empire’s First Star General, Schwarte, addressed her.
“Your Highness.”
“Is the operation complete?”
“Yes. The ministries of Justice, Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Administration are all under our control.”
“And Marquis Ebert?”
“Eliminated.”
Marquis Ebert had been talented—almost too valuable to kill. But his personality made it impossible for him to accept the coup, so she had removed him without hesitation.
“Send a swift message to the Holy Kingdom. Inform them that we have carried out the excommunication of the Emperor and that Leonardo von Bismarck has ascended as the new emperor.”
“Understood.”
The Holy Kingdom would likely have manufactured a war even if the Empire tried to avoid one, using the excommunication as an excuse. But if Charlotte personally excommunicated Claude, installed a new emperor, and appeared to accept every demand the Holy Kingdom made…
They will lose any justification to act.
Moreover, once they recovered the strange artifacts that had spread among the merchant guilds, the problem would be solved. The Holy Kingdom also had its reputation as a nation that served the Heavenly God to uphold; it could not wage a baseless war without tarnishing that image.
Charlotte looked at her father, who could no longer speak. At the father who could no longer breathe. At the father who could never love her again.
“Go on ahead, Father. Atone to Mother and wait for me there…”
Charlotte sheathed her sword.
“I, too, will follow you to hell.”
Nahen allowed Eri to rest completely while assigning only Dane the task of monitoring developments in the human realm. The next day, Dane returned with a shocking report.
“…The war did not happen?”
“Correct.”
Nahen’s expression was one of genuine astonishment. Beyond surprise, he looked irritated that events had refused to follow his design.
“A coup has taken place within the Bismarck Empire.”
“A coup? What possible justification could they have had?”
“From what I gathered, it stemmed from the Holy Kingdom’s excommunication of the Emperor—now the former Emperor. The rebel faction held him accountable for that crime, installed a new emperor, and used the opportunity to declare that the Empire would not oppose the Heavenly God’s faith.”
After listening to the report, Nahen understood why war had become impossible. He let out a sigh, now certain that his plan had collapsed.
There will be some turmoil, but…
It was a coup that had not escalated into full-scale civil war. According to Dane, the rebel forces had already absorbed the majority of the Empire’s power. Therefore, war could not break out. The chaos caused by the coup would likely subside quickly as well.
This was not the future Nahen had desired.
“Did you learn who orchestrated this?”
“…The Empire’s First Princess, Charlotte von Bismarck.”
Charlotte. The moment he heard the name, Nahen remembered a fact he had completely forgotten. A self-mocking smile rose to his lips.
“Ah… I had forgotten about this.”
“Pardon?”
“Never mind. I understand. Thank you for your hard work, Dane.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“You may leave.”
Dane bowed respectfully and exited the office. Once alone, Nahen let out a hollow laugh and murmured to himself.
“Knowing full well that Adelbert exists, how could I have forgotten about her?”
Charlotte von Bismarck. Like Adelbert, the guild master of Soter City, she was one of the human realm’s most dangerous figures. Both were exceptional, but what set Charlotte apart was her status. The noble position granted by the vast Bismarck Empire allowed her to accomplish far more than a mere guild master ever could.
Unlike Adelbert, whose influence was limited to commanding adventurers, Charlotte could mobilize private armies, wage diplomatic warfare, and even spark conflict with the Demon Realm itself. If a Hero appeared, she could organize a subjugation force around them and inflict catastrophic damage on the Demon Realm—just as Claude had once done.
What made her truly troublesome, however, was her intellect.
Against my own schemes…
He had no choice but to admit that he stood no chance. Nahen could only build plans based on information he already knew from the game, yet Charlotte was different. She was a genius from the very beginning, capable of devising brilliant, breathtaking strategies on the fly. On top of that, the decisiveness, execution, and competence required to carry out such a massive undertaking were threats to both his past self as a player and his current self.
The fact that someone like Charlotte had seized power was far from good news. Her influence could easily extend beyond the human realm and into the Demon Realm. In the original story, Charlotte had been one of the most difficult human characters to deal with alongside the Hero.
It seemed he would need to strengthen surveillance over the human realm even further just to keep track of her movements.
Nahen let out a long, heavy sigh.
“At this rate, how am I supposed to delay the Heavenly Demon Great War…?”
The plan to incite war through the Holy Kingdom had failed. He would need to devise another scheme to plunge the human realm into even greater chaos. At the same time, he had to continue climbing the ranks using his alliance with Gremory…
“……”
His head ached. There was simply too much to do. If this had been inside the game, he could have resolved it easily. But since it wasn’t, he was forced to wrestle with the problem alone.
While Nahen was groaning in thought, the office door creaked open.
“N-Nahen-nim.”
“…Veronika?”
It was Veronika. She was supposed to be in the middle of rigorous training under Celestia, commander of the Seventh Legion. Why had she come here?
Nahen looked at her with puzzled eyes.
“Commander Celestia asked me to bring you, sir. She said there’s something she needs to discuss regarding me.”
“Why didn’t she come herself?”
“She said it’s something you need to see in person. Are you bothered by having to come? You promised you would look after me properly.”
“It’s not that I’m bothered. Things have become complicated, and I have a lot on my mind.”
“Complicated?”
“Yes. In any case, if Celestia said that, I suppose I should go.”
Whatever the reason, he would only find out by going. Nahen rose from his seat and began to follow Veronika when he suddenly stopped. From behind her, he noticed his disciple staring down at the vampire girl and greeted her.
“Seere, you’re here?”
“Hik!?”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Veronika whipped around in surprise. There stood Seere, glaring faintly at her. Veronika hurriedly lowered her head.
“Ah, g-greetings, Your Majesty!”
“…Yes, hello. Why have you come to see Teacher?”
“C-Commander Celestia asked me to escort Nahen-nim.”
“Why?”
When asked why, Veronika repeated the explanation she had given Nahen. Seere narrowed her eyes, then turned to Nahen.
“Teacher.”
“Yes?”
“May I come as well?”
Seere wanted to follow. Nahen wondered why, but something told him it would be unwise to ask.
“Do as you wish.”
“Really? Thank you, Teacher.”
Seere gave Nahen a bright smile, then shot a quick glance at Veronika. The vampire girl flinched at the look.
Sc-Scary…
Seere’s gaze was anything but ordinary. Veronika did not know it, but Seere had already marked her as a person of concern—someone who might try to steal away her precious teacher, who belonged to her alone.